Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon suggested on Monday that France captain Kylian Mbappe should not speak out “against extreme and divisive ideas” ahead of France’s next general elections.
Mbappe, who recently joined Real Madrid, said on Sunday that early parliamentary elections, scheduled for June and July, were happening at a “crucial moment” in France’s history.
Mbappe defended his compatriot Marcus Thuram’s comments, saying he was “not going too far” in calling on his countrymen to “fight every day” to stop the far-right National Rally (RN) party from winning the elections.
But when asked about Mbappe’s comments, Spain’s number one goalkeeper Simon said players were too vocal on topics such as politics.
“Kilian is a person of great influence in the world, in society,” Simon told a news conference. “In the end, this is a political issue. I think we have a tendency to be too vocal on certain issues when we don’t know if we should. We don’t know if we should be doing these things.”
“I’m here, I’m a football player, I’m focused on football. All I have to say to you here is about sports. I’ll leave the politics to other people and organisations.”
After Thuram spoke on Saturday, the French Football Federation released a statement demanding that the team not be “subjected to any form of pressure or political exploitation.”
The FFF said that while it respected freedom of expression, it “hoped that their neutrality would be respected by everyone, not just the players”.
But Mbappe, 25, backed Thuram and his comments on Sunday.
“The Euros are very important for our careers but we are people first and foremost and I think we cannot isolate ourselves from the world around us,” Mbappe said.
“Today we can all see that extremists are on the verge of seizing power and we have the opportunity to choose the future of our country.
“That’s why I call on all young people to go vote and really recognize the importance of this situation.”
“The country needs to embrace the values of diversity and tolerance. There’s no denying that. I sincerely hope that we make the right decision.”
Favourites to win the tournament will face Austria later on Monday in their Euro 2024 opening match.
